The latest Lighthouses, awarded in October 2024 and January 2025, follow the same core principles identified when the network began. Their leaders recognize that what transforms a business is not just a particular technology, or even a unique set of use cases, but the ability of people and processes to use technology to create value across the enterprise. Accordingly, our analysis finds that Lighthouses resist the temptation to buy into every new technology trend; instead, they invest roughly four times as much in process and people enablers as they do in new technology. For every $2 they spend on tech innovation, Lighthouses earmark $3 for process debt reduction and $5 for scale and adoption. By contrast, we find that most other manufacturers spend closer to one or two times their tech investment on these same enablers.
